Tools common to multiple working areas in Logic Pro for Mac

Pointer tool

The Pointer is the default tool when you open Logic Pro. You can use the Pointer tool to:

• Select events, regions, or other items by clicking them. You can select multiple items by holding down Shift and dragging around the items.

• Move items (by grabbing and dragging).

• Copy items (by Option-dragging).

• Change the length of items (by grabbing the bottom-right or bottom-left corner and dragging).

• Loop regions (by grabbing the upper-right corner and dragging).

The pointer also takes the shape of this tool when outside the working area, when making a menu selection, or entering a value.

Pencil tool

Use the Pencil tool to add new regions or events. You can also select, drag, loop, and alter the length of regions or events using the Pencil tool. In the Score Editor, you can use the Pencil tool to add dynamic markings, accents, and other symbols to notes.

Eraser tool

Use the Eraser tool to delete selected regions or events. When you click a region or event with the Eraser tool, all of the currently selected regions or events are deleted (similar to pressing the Delete key). The Eraser tool can also delete an unselected region or event by clicking it.

Text tool

Use the Text tool to rename regions and other items, or add text to a score in the Score Editor.

Scissors tool

Use the Scissors tool to split regions and events, allowing individual sections to be copied, moved, or deleted.

Join tool

Use the Join tool to join selected regions or events into a single region or event.

Solo tool

Click and hold a region with the Solo tool to listen to the selected region or event apart from the rest of the project. Moving the mouse horizontally also scrubs any events the pointer touches.

Mute tool

Click an event or region with the Mute tool to silence it. You can unmute the region or event by clicking it a second time with the Mute tool. If multiple regions or events are selected, the mute state of the clicked region or event applies to all selected regions or events.

Zoom tool

Use the Zoom tool to zoom in by dragging over regions or other material, or over an empty part of the Tracks area. To revert to the normal zoom level, click the window background with the Zoom tool, or click while holding Control-Option.

You can also access the Zoom function by pressing and holding Control-Option, regardless of which tool is active. When the pointer is over an empty part of the Tracks area, Piano Roll Editor, Score Editor, or Step Editor, you can access the Zoom function by pressing and holding Option.

Fade tool

Use the Fade tool to create and edit fades, or to change the shape of fade curves.

Automation Select tool

Use the Automation Select tool to select automation data and create automation points at region borders.

Automation Curve tool

Use to Automation Curve tool to bend or reshape the curve between two automation points, creating a nonlinear transition between the points.

Marquee tool

Use the crosshair-shaped Marquee tool to select and edit parts of regions. In the Tracks area, you can select part of a region or regions with the Marquee tool and apply selection-based processing with audio effects.

Flex tool

Use the Flex tool for quick access to fundamental Flex editing functionality, without having to turn on Flex view in the Tracks area.

Slip tool

Click and hold a region with the Slip tool to slip the region, which moves the content of the region left or right by the Snap value without moving the boundaries of the region. The content effectively moves inside the region, which remains stationary. Slipping a region is possible only when the source content exceeds the length of the region by the amount you slip (or greater).

You can slip and rotate the content of audio or MIDI regions. When you slip or rotate a Session Player region, it is first converted to a MIDI region, then the content of the MIDI region is slipped or rotated.

Rotate tool

Click and hold a region with the Rotate tool to rotate the region. Similar to slipping, rotating moves the region content left or right by the Snap value; the difference is that content that extends past the region border on one side reappears on the other side, as though the region were a loop.

When you rotate an audio region, it’s converted to a one-track folder (indicated by a folder icon in the upper-left corner of the region) containing two regions. If it’s rotated multiple times, the number of regions in the one-track folder stays the same, but the junction point between the two regions moves through the folder, reflecting the extent of the cumulative rotation. You can unpack the one-track folder, or unpack and merge it to a single region, by clicking the folder icon and choosing corresponding commands from the menu that appears.

Tools for specific working areas

Tools specific to a particular editor or other working area are covered in the respective chapters for that working area.

• The Finger tool is available in the Piano Roll Editor and the Step Editor.

• The Quantize and Velocity tools are available in the Piano Roll Editor and the Score Editor.

• The Brush tool is available in the Piano Roll Editor.

• The Vibrato and Volume tools are available in the Audio Track Editor.

• The Move tool is available in the Audio File Editor.

• The Camera, Layout, Resize, and Voice Separation tools are available in the Score Editor.

• The Line tool is available in the Step Editor.

• The MIDI Thru tool is available in the MIDI Environment.

• The Gain tool is available in the Tracks area.